Hall

Cities, Towns, Villages

Alda; Cairo; Doniphan; Grand Island; Wood
River

History

When Maj. Stephen H. Long, a Union government
engineer, passed through this area in 1820 while
returning from an expedition in the Rocky Mountains,
he reported the area was "wholly unfit for
cultivation and uninhabitable by a people depending
on agriculture for their subsistence." Long's harsh
observation would prove to be erroneous, however.

Agriculture in the lush Platte River Valley dates
back to the days when the Pawnee Indians located
their villages along the south bank of the river.
The Pawnee would depend more on their crops of corn
and pumpkins than they would on the buffalo that
roamed the area. Early white settlers lived off the
land as well, selling corn to nearby Fort Kearny.

Hall County was created by the Territorial
Legislature on Nov. 4, 1858. The county's original
boundaries would be redefined again in 1864 and
1871. This new county was named in honor of Augustus
Hall, who was Chief Justice of the Territorial
Supreme Court at the time the county's original
boundaries were created.

The Mormon Trail brought many of the first
settlers to the Hall County area. But like so many
other counties that border the Platte River, the
westward advancement of the Union Pacific Railroad
in the 1860s can be credited with contributing to
the most significant development.

One of the sidings located along the rail line
was approximately two miles north of a settlement on
the north bank of the river. The settlement was
relocated to the site of the siding and renamed
Grand Island City. Within six years it would be
incorporated and become the county seat. The name,
later shorted to simply Grand Island, was derived
from a large island in the river.

The stately courthouse that today serves the
county was completed in 1903 and has been listed on
the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980
the county added an Administration Building directly
across the street. The courthouse is used primarily
for the courts and county corrections, with the
other county offices housed in the Administration
Building.